


You Set Me On Fire

by 5thHalliwell



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Rory is a homosexual having a panic attack, Teen Angst, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:34:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28397007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5thHalliwell/pseuds/5thHalliwell
Summary: Rory Gilmore was a good girl. She worked hard in school, listened to her mother (and her grandmother), followed all the rules. She had the perfect life; a loving family, amazing friends, and a picture perfect boyfriend. So why was she suddenly so willing to throw it all away for a stupid girl crush? Paris Geller had set her on fire. Now what was she supposed to do?This is essentially an exploration into the idea of Rory falling in love with Paris and working up the courage to tell her friends and family and will likely focus more on the relationship between Rory and her family and friends than on the Rory/Paris relationship. Title is an excerpt from a Sappho poem because it seemed fitting for a love story about Rory Gilmore and Paris Geller. Rating will likely be changed for later chapters with potential smut. Tags will also be updated as chapters are posted. Also, I suck at summaries. Apologies.
Relationships: Lorelai Gilmore & Rory Gilmore, Paris Geller/Rory Gilmore
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	You Set Me On Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Set sometime around the middle of season 2 (roughly somewhere around “A-Tisket, A-Tasket”). I’ve bent the timelines a little to make this fit better, and it is obviously AU. Rory likes Jess, but just as a friend; her and Dean are still fighting over Jess’ presence though, and their relationship is just as rocky as is it during these episodes. Also, just for good measure: fuck Dean.

“Independence Inn, Michel speaking.” Michel Girard said as he picked up the phone at the front desk, still writing the final details of the last booking in the log. The voice on the other end of the line surprised him.

“Hi Michel, it’s Rory. Do you have a minute?” Rory asked, her voice as cheerful as her mother’s had been earlier that morning when she had insisted on singing as she walked into the lobby just before eight. Michel set down his pen, intrigued by Rory’s question.

“Me? Are you sure you are not looking for Lorelai or that insipid cooking lady of ours?” The French man asked, eyebrow raised. Rory paused on the other end of the line.

“Nope, I’m definitely looking for you.” She told him hesitantly. Michel paused before continuing his probe.

“Well, then what can I help you with this morning?” He asked.

“I wanted to talk to you about something…personal…and I, well…I was hoping that you had some time today or tomorrow to meet me?” Rory asked quietly, her voice shaking slightly toward the end of the question. Although Michel couldn't see her, he was certain that the girl was fidgeting on the other end of the line. 

“Look, Rory, I don’t think that I am the appropriate person to deal with whatever this issue you are having is. I can go and fetch your mother for you if you would like.” He prompted, glancing around the lobby for the aforementioned woman. He was brought back to the phone conversation by a loud noise.

“No!” Rory exclaimed loudly. Wincing at her tone, she softened her voice before continuing. “I mean…no, I think that you’re the appropriate person for this conversation. Please, don’t get my mom.” She all but begged the man on the other end of the line.

“Rory, I really don’t think that this - ” Michel was cut off by the girl.

“C’mon, Michel…I’m desperate here.” The girl pleaded, once again sounding exactly like her mother. Damn these Gilmore women and their excellent begging skills. Finally, he relented, sighing into the phone.

“Very well. I take my lunch today around 1 o’clock… I’ll be sitting out at the tables by the pond enjoying this gorgeous spring day. I suppose I can’t stop you from joining me.” Michel told the girl with a shrug.

“Thanks Michel! I’ll be there.” Rory said, hanging up the phone. Michele smirked, placing the phone back down on top of the desk as Lorelai walked into the lobby.

“Who was that?” Lorelai asked as she joined the man behind the front desk, a new cup of coffee accompanying her from the kitchen. Michel shrugged, not looking up from the paperwork in front of him.

“Oh, just some girl looking for a price quote. I told her we do not run a bargain motel, and that she should try a Motel 6; it seemed closer to her budget.” The man explained, still concentrating on the paperwork in front of him. Lorelai smirked, rolling her eyes.

“Hmm, charming as ever, Michel.” She said with a laugh before turning back to help guests that had just walked into the Inn.

* * *

“Hi Michel!” Rory said as she walked up to the Frenchman later that afternoon as the clock struck a quarter past one. True to his word, Michel was sitting at one of the three small tables by the pond, his jacket and tie removed, with his sleeves pushed up to his elbows. A young couple, completely engrossed with each other and clearly on their honeymoon, sat a few feet away at the table behind him.

“Hello Rory.” Michel responded, looking up from the newspaper he had been reading as the young girl sat down in the chair across from him. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of you wanting to interrupt the very little personal time I have today?” He continued, casting a slightly scathing glance toward the sixteen year old. Rory's eyes widened slightly, clearly caught off guard by the abruptness of the question.

"Oh, well… I needed to talk with you about a problem I’ve been having. A…a special problem.” Rory said, her voice low as she glanced down at her folded hands resting in her lap. Michel shifted in his seat, adjusting his tie ever so slightly.

“Okay, now I am uncomfortable. Are you sure that you don’t want to speak with your mother? She is in a meeting right now, but I am sure that she can cut it short if it is an urgent matter.” He asked, looking at the girl inquisitively. 

“No! Please, Michel, don’t get my mom. I…she can’t know that I’m here. Not yet, anyway.” Rory exclaimed hurriedly, finally looking up from her folded hands. Tears were in the corners of her eyes. Glancing back at the Inn to check that Lorelai hadn’t emerged from the aforementioned meeting, Michel nodded and stood from his seat.

“Walk with me then, Gilmore.” He beckoned. Rory stood and followed the man toward the walking path. The pair had just passed the potting shed and stepped on to the small foot path that bordered the pond when Michel continued the conversation.

“So, what is it that your mother cannot know?” He asked, taking a bite of his apple. Rory began to fidget with the hem of her sweater as the pair continued to walk down the path. Glancing around to make sure no one had followed them, Rory took a deep breath.

“I…well, like I said, I have a problem, and I think you are uniquely situated to help me with said problem. I know that that probably seems like a strange thing for me to say, especially since we aren’t close and never really talk except for when we’re insulting one another. But I didn’t know where else to go, and like I said I’m pretty desperate, and I just thought that- ” This time it was Michel who cut off the conversation, tired of the trademark Gilmore rambling that was spewing quickly out of Rory’s mouth. He stopped walking and turned to the girl, holding up a hand.

“I am listening, but please stop rambling and get to your point. I only have so much patience for you Gilmores and your word vomit. I still have to deal with your mother for a few more hours today.” He pleaded with the girl before continuing down the path. Rory stopped walking. A pit had formed in her stomach, and she was worried that she might pass out from the anxiety coursing through her body. Taking a deep breath, she mustered all the courage she could before speaking.

“How did you know that you like men, Michel?” Rory asked quietly from behind. Michel stopped walking and turned to face the girl, attempting to hide the shocked expression on his face. Rory was nervously wringing her hands together, her gaze on the dirt path underneath her feet.

“Oh. Well…I don’t know. I guess it was just something that was always there. Dating men always just felt like the natural thing for me. I never really felt the need to date women, no matter how many times my mother tried to convince me otherwise. Why do you ask?” He explained softly, walking back toward the clearly terrified girl. It took Rory a moment to answer the French man's question.

“I…I don’t know. I, um, I think…I think I might not…not like boys? Like, I, um, I think… I think…” Rory trailed off, trying fight back the tears that had sprung to her eyes. She continued to play with the hem of her sweater, her nervous energy palpable from even where Michel was standing.

“Oh no, please don’t cry.” Michel pleaded. He hated it when people got upset. He never know what to do with them. “Rory, are you trying to tell me that you are gay?” The man asked the girl quietly, bending his knees slightly to look at the upset girl. When she didn't respond, he lead her over to a bench by the pond and gently sat her down. Michel stood at the other end of the bench, waiting for her to answer his question. Rory took a shaky breath.

“I don’t know. Maybe? I…I think I have a crush on this girl at school. But…I’m…I’m so scared, Michel. I don’t know what to do. What if I tell my mom and she’s so angry that she kicks me out? Where will I go? I mean, I guess I could stay with my grandparents in Hartford, but- oh my god, what am I going to say to them? There’s no way that they’ll be okay with me liking a girl. And then other people are going to find out and pretty soon all of Stars Hollow will know and they’ll all hate me, and I’ll have nowhere to go. And I don’t even know if I am…if I do like girls. It’s all so confusing and I don’t know what to do or where to go or who to talk to. And I know I should probably have gone to mom with this but I’m so scared and I…you can’t tell her Michel. Please.” Rory rambled, tears trailing down her cheeks as she pleaded with the man across from her. She didn't know what she would do if Michel told other people in town.

“Okay. Take a deep breath.” Michel said softly, sitting down on the bench next to her. He waited for the borderline hysterical girl to breathe. When Rory finally took a shaky breath in, he continued. “Are you done with the panicking? May I answer your questions before you hyperventilate and actually force me to go and get your mother?” Michel asked. Rory nodded, wiping tears from her face with the back of her hand.

“First of all: I’m not going to tell Lorelai. That is your business, not mine.” The Frenchman reassured the upset girl. Rory nodded, looking down at her folded hands in her lap. She felt like she could breathe now that he had offered her that reassurance.

“Second, I understand what it is like to realize something scary about yourself. And I know that it seems awful right now, and that it will never get any better, but I can speak from experience to tell you that it will. Maybe not right away, but it will.” Michel continued, resting a gentle hand on top of the girl's folded ones. Rory smiled softly at the kind gesture.

“As far as other people finding out, that is your decision. You can tell people whenever you are ready to. That may be never, and that is okay too. What helped me was knowing that I was in control, and that if people truly respected me, they would let me tell other people when I was ready; not when they were ready.” Michel added, his voice calm despite the uncomfortable subject matter. He could tell that Rory was in need of a friend who had been through what she had. “Also, I cannot answer whether you are a lesbian or bisexual or some other word; that is up to you to decide.” Michel concluded. Rory nodded, wiping away her remaining tears and finally looking up at the man. The brunette girl gave him a watery, soft smile. 

“And as far as Lorelai is concerned…she’s not going to be angry with you. She, and I cannot believe I am saying this out loud, is one of the best people I know. It is very clear that she loves you more than anything in this world. I think she just wants you to be safe and happy; I don’t think she really cares if that is with a man or a woman.” Michel added, smiling at the girl whose hands he still held in his own.

“How can you know for sure?” Rory asked, her voice shaky with tears. Michel smiled sadly, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, I guess no one can know for sure, but I really don’t see Lorelai reacting negatively in anyway. She's a good person. And she loves you. Please don't be afraid to tell her. When you are ready, that is." He reassured her. Rory nodded slowly, tears once again falling down her cheeks. Michel frowned. Unsure of what else to do to comfort the clearly shaken girl, he leaned forward and pulled her into a gentle hug. Surprised at the unexpected kind gesture, Rory returned the hug.

“Thank you, Michel. I’m sorry for interrupting you on your lunch. I just…I just didn’t know who to talk to.” Rory thanked the man as she let him go. Michel smiled, nodding his head.

“It is no problem, Rory. I hope I helped you, at least a little bit.” He told the girl, surprised at just how invested he had become in reassuring her that she was going to be okay.

“You did. I guess I have some stuff to figure out…but I don’t feel as terrified anymore. Thanks again, Michel.” Rory replied, taking a deep breath as she wiped the tears from her face with the end of her sleeve.

“You are welcome. Now, I suggest you get out of here. Lorelai will be done with her meeting shortly, and it will be much more difficult to lie about what I did on my lunch break if your mother sees you here.” He explained with a smile before gesturing toward the Inn. Rory nodded, standing up.

“Got it. See you later, Michel.” Rory said firmly, turning away from the French man with a soft wave and walking quickly back up the bench. Michel waited a moment before sighing with a shake of his head as he stood from the bench to walk back to the Inn. These Gilmores would surely kill him one day.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! This is my first time writing fanfic in about five years, so I'm a little rusty but I promise it will get better. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments while you wait for the next chapters!


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